Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the steps being taken to deal with this issue but I find it alarming that we had 346 children deemed high priority who have been waiting more than three months. Worse again, Tusla could not tell us how long 87 children were waiting for social workers.

I am not coming here to bash Tusla. I am well aware of the vast workload faced by its staff but I seriously believe something needs to be done to retain the staff. Is it the case that we have to look at the pay and conditions of these social workers? Why does the Minister think no one is applying for these jobs? Why is Tusla not recruiting more staff? Why is this recruitment programme not working?

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